Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, dubbed "perhaps the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave Earth," has been posting pictures taken from the International Space Station. As noted by the commenters, the flying saucer in the corner was Hadfield’s April Fools joke.

"Pillowy farms of eastern Europe, tidily etched in snow."

"Helsinki and Tallinn, two long-enduring gatekeepers to the Gulf of Finland."

Amazing Photos Of Earth From Above, From Canada's Tiny Space Program

A very social media-savvy astronaut from the frozen North recently took over on the International Space Station, and the images he’s beaming back are incredible.

Canadians go to space too, eh?

While American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts may typically get most of the recognition for space exploration, our neighbor to the north’s space program recently made news when astronaut Chris Hadfield recently became the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station earlier this month.

Since arriving, he’s posted incredible pictures of earth from his unique perspective— to Facebook and to Twitter, where he’s acquired more than half a million followers, leading Forbes to call him "perhaps the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave Earth." He even did an "Ask me anything" interview session on Reddit.

His text updates provide a perspective on what ordinary life in space is like: "We shut off most lights at bedtime—it feels right to do it" he told one Redditor. "I hit my head about once per day," he told another. But his photos of cities, land masses, islands from space are anything but ordinary.

Um, it's a bit of an insult to call Canada's space program "tiny". The CSA has been involved in space exploration since the end of WWII, was the first country aside from the US and USSR to send a satellite into space, has sent numerous Astronauts on Shuttle and ISS missions, and has contributed many technological advances, including the Canadarm. Your article suggests that Canadians woke up a year or so ago and thought, "Oh Hadfield, he's a nice guy. Why don't we see if the Yanks will let us send him up to the ISS for little getaway." This is a bit patronizing. Admittedly, the CSA pales in comparison to NASA, both in budget ($425M vs $17.8B) and staff (575 vs 18,100), but we also have a population roughly a tenth of yours.